


a train in the passing

by That_one_fan



Category: Friday Night Funkin' (Video Game), Pico's School (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Blood and Injury, Cassandra Has magic, Character Death, Death, Demons, Gay Rights, Grief/Mourning, Heavy Angst, How Do I Tag, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Planning Adventures, Reminiscing, Sad with a Happy Ending, Spirits, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, Vampires, alucards a vampire, beta read this one haha, boyfriends name is keith, cassandra didnt shoot up a school this time, daddy dearests name is luis, girlfriends name is diane, hanzos dead sorry, headcannons, pico fucking dies, pico is pico, the moms name is porrim, this is going to be long and painful, vent - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:27:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29034648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/That_one_fan/pseuds/That_one_fan
Summary: 1/27.the day Keith first met the aggressive boy.the day he fell in love with him.the day he watched the stars till sunrise with him.the day he was going to propose to him.the day he watched the life drain from his eyes as he died in his arms...how much could the single date hold? That was for Keith to find out on his own as the date grows to be only a sad reminder that everything he has ever gained or lost has somehow been bound to the single date.(yeah I don't know where I'm going with this story, originally a one-off vent Oneshot, what chapter 2 is, it became whatever this mess is. hope you like it <3)
Relationships: Pico (Pico's School)/Boyfriend (Friday Night Funkin'), Pico/Boyfriend (Friday Night Funkin')
Comments: 6
Kudos: 42





	1. A stars burning light

**Author's Note:**

> TW: DO NOT READ IF ANY OF THE BELOW ARE TRIGGERING TO YOU!!!  
> gun mention  
> knife mention  
> death  
> derealization  
> blood  
> minor mutilation  
> grief  
> death of a loved one  
> cursing  
> MAY THIS BE YOUR ONLY WARNING!! TURN BACK NOW IF THESE ARE TRIGGERING FOR THIS STORY HAS THIS AND OTHERS IN IT,

Keith stepped out of the car quickly as the moon shone down with furious light, the pale white shine casting a loving gaze on nearly everything it touched,  
Keith grabbed the small box he had brought with him and shoved it in his pocket,  
‘To keep it safe’  
He thought happily, he had asked pico to meet him here at around this time, actually, he was early but that didn't really matter, it was only by a few minutes anyways,  
He fidgeted with his shirt, the same outfit he had met him in all those years ago, a red jacket with a white overshirt, a pocket being sloppily sewn on and a red painted on circle with a line through it  
He thought of all the good things that he and pico had been through as he recited his words in his head again.  
I mean, proposal was no joke right?  
Keith let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding as nervousness tugged at his stomach, it didn't feel right  
Honestly, something felt off as he hugged his hand closer to himself but he shook it off and took a few steps from the car, slamming the door shut with his foot quickly  
He made a mental list of things he had to do to make this perfect,  
He checked his phone, dianes 'coming soon! Bring a jacket’ message still sitting on read as he checked the time, it was the perfect date to  
1/27/2020  
He smiled, he had made sure everything was perfect  
Well,  
Everything was perfect until he heard a loud shrill scream ring out from not to far away  
Keith's eyes shot up as he dropped his phone dashing out to the open part of the trainyard just as another train roared past sending a blast of icy air towards him   
The air smelled of gas and something new  
Something metallic  
Keith quickly scanned the ground for the source of the noise  
Keith's eyes went wide as he noticed the shivering form next to the tracks, the acrid taste of bile rising up in his throat as he ran, he ran even though his legs burned, his throat burning as he screeched at the figure, a mix of stomach acid and screaming made his throat raw making his cries nearly mute as he collapsed to his knees before the shaking heap before him,  
He didn't want to believe it as more of the sour metallic hit his nostrils, his hands already shaking as he let out a shriek   
It was pico  
It was really pico  
Keith was trembling tears dripping off his face without him realizing, hands hovering over his body trying to find the best place to pick him up, rush him to a hospital  
Blood poured from so many places, his nose, mouth, and ears  
Trails of it soaked through his pale green sweater, it had always been cold in Philly, the sweater used to be a simple t-shirt but a week of sewing tutorials made their mark as there were badly sewn on darker green sleeves that covered more slowly seeping wounds, blood turning the dark green a strange  
Keith was sobbing over him, he couldn't be dead no that wasn't possible, not now, not today, not ever.  
The fact that he was missing most of one of his legs seemed to tell him otherwise but he refused to believe it  
Pico couldn't die  
Nonononono  
He finally put his hand on pico limp shoulders pulling the boy close to him, not caring that his blood seemed to burn against his skin as it soaked through his shirt quickly, his raspy breaths the only sign he had even been the one who screamed  
He hugged pico, trying to hug the life back into him  
And it worked somewhat  
Pico sputtered for a moment making Keith freeze  
"k..ei..th...?"  
He choked out, blood thickly running down his face from his hairline  
Keith was shaking harder  
"Yeah pico yeah it's me I'm here"  
He spoke fast like he didn't want to miss a moment with the boy with his dumb words  
"I.. I love..e y..ou"  
Pico dryly chuckled his whole body screeching as he moved, he winced slightly as he returned the hug weakly  
"I love you to pico.... y-you don't have to say that now though!! I'm going to get you help I promise!! You're going to be ok I promise common don't say things like that"  
Keith was stuttering as he held pico tightly his gloves slowly growing wet where it lay over a gash that lay under the boy sweater  
"I'm ..sorry..y."  
That scared Keith.  
"Nonono don't say that y-your gonna be fine please"  
He was shaking harder now as he tried to keep the sobs from breaking his voice too bad, it was already wispy as he cried   
"n-no... i'm ..sor..ry i lo..ve you Keith...don't. fo..r...get.... t...h...at....."  
He trailed off and Keith's heart dropped,  
Pico's hands grew limp as the boy nuzzled his face into Keith's neck, a finally content smile as his arms dropped, too weak to hold them up  
"I... I love you to pico....."  
Keith's face went null as he said it like he had let the boy who was cuddling up to him in his final moments die  
Allowing him to pass  
Pico tried to chuckled but couldn't, his body fought for life and was failing miserably as blood poured from every in sight  
Finally, he sighed as he gave up  
His whole body went limp against Keiths.  
Keith couldn't hear anything, just a loud ringing as he held the boy in his arms, blood still pouring from invisible wounds that littered his already scarred skin  
This wasn't happening  
This couldn't be happening


	2. some time away from now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:DO NOT READ IF ANY OF THE BELOW ARE TRIGGERING TO YOU!!!  
> death  
> blood  
> mental breakdowns  
> grief  
> MAY THIS BE YOUR ONLY WARNING WHEN READING THIS!!

The first time they had laid like this in the train yard it was warm,  
They happily lay with one another sitting by the tracks watching the stars as trains went by, content smiles on both of their faces as they relished in the moments the had with one another, mics forgotten as the rap battles they performed in the past, only a few hours ago blew by as if they never happened 

But life isn't always fair.

Life wasn't fair as Keith felt the bitter cold bite at his skin, the pain of loss burning where Pico's body lay heavy on him, cold blood soaking through his now red shirt  
He would wash it  
It would never wash clean though, he knew this but...  
In a way, he didn't want it to.  
He wanted pico with him but...  
Not like this  
He clutched onto the body shaking as he ran his fingers through pico ginger hair, not nothing to wipe the blood the came with his fingers off  
His eyes were wide as he pressed a small kiss to the top of Picos head  
"I love you to pico..."  
He whispered against his hair  
This isn't happening  
He mumbled his love for the other again and again while he sobbed, holding the boy until his fingers went numb in the cold, all of Pico's warmth sapped away by the Philly air  
He winced as a train ran nearby, the blast of air making his eyes burn, it comes to a stop around 50 feet from the pair at the bus stop he didn't realize was there  
He weakly lifted his head to the terrified eyes of Diane witch stared at him from the train's doors  
She stepped offend ran towards them as the train left moments later, not caring for the scene happening ever so close to it  
She came up behind him, tight red dress not doing much to fight the cold that nipped at the exposed skin  
Keith didn't move as she put a hand on his other shoulder comfortingly, she said something but he didn't hear it  
He was in shock  
He couldn't believe it  
He wouldn't believe it  
There's no way his love his friend his everything had just died in his arms  
No.  
NO!NO!NO!  
he screamed and he held the boy closer, making Diane wince and jerk away as he sobbed harder curling in on himself and the boy's corpse  
Diane just sat witness to his breakdown  
"Should I call an ambulance? Police?"  
Her voice came as a bit of a shock to him as he rocked gently  
Keith nodded ever so slightly into Pico's blood-stained mane, his ginger hair dyed red at the roots with blood  
Diane stood up and walked away, taking her red cased phone out and making a panicked call that sounded like static to the grieving boy, words garbled with his own sobs and hiccups  
Everything seemed to die away from him as the only thing he could feel or see was pico  
His blood staining his skin, cold body pressing against his   
He couldn't handle this  
He couldn't handle the loss of his love like this  
So he just.   
didn't.  
He just sat there sobbing and holding the body   
He held him until paramedics pried him from the man and took him away in an ambulance  
Diane staying with him as he sat at the train tracks, empty  
Tears burned at his cheeks as he sat there  
Almost like he was waiting  
He thought back to the first day they met, it had been so many years ago that the memories lay fuzzy in his mind, but he knew he had waited in the same spot for the boy, only a few feet from the train tracks  
He remembered waiting here so many times that the events all seemed to blur together   
He remembered waiting for pico so they could rap together for dianes ‘love’, it had all been an act to help her in the end but it wasn't very convincing as they shared short flirts and small kisses during their breaks  
He missed pico already, pain tugging at his limbs as he watched the dull sky  
There were no stars, only the black darkness that sucked away any light it saw  
Nothing to watch, to listen to.  
When he thought back on the warmth of the night he realized then there weren't any stars either, there was never really any stars  
Just pico  
His pico  
Hed watch the boy who was happily explaining the constellations invisible to them  
The sky was too polluted in the city to actually see the beautiful dots his sweet had rambled on about for so long, but love had fogged his mind into seeing them just as pico did  
In reality, the only star he was able to see was pico himself as they held one another in the cold, laughing and smiling as they stared out blind to life as they reveled in one another presence   
But now his star was gone,  
Burned out by a freight train.  
He curled in on himself, pulling his knees to his chest as he heaved a sob  
His star was gone now  
And the inky darkness that surrounded him only made that more noticeable  
There were no stars here anymore  
No one to tell about the dumb constellations  
No one to giggle when he got a name wrong in the best way  
No one to teach him how to shot   
No one to sit here and enjoy the nights with him  
No one to rap with  
No one to love.  
Keith sobbed,  
His star was gone.  
His star was gone and he wasn't coming back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if it's a tad awkward sorry about that!! when I wrote it I was super tired and it was like 3 am so there may be a few issues I missed when editing it, tell me in the comments and ill be sure to change them asap love yall <3


	3. the stars weep for their loss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:DO NOT READ IF ANY OF THE BELOW ARE TRIGGERING TO YOU!!!  
> derealization  
> death mention  
> gun mention  
> school shooting reference  
> possession mention  
> cursing  
> MAY THIS BE YOUR ONLY WARNING WHEN READING THIS!!

Keith clenched his jaw as he stared out in front of him  
Vaguely he could hear the sounds of a crowd quietly saying their remorse to others as they found seats, he stayed outside in the blistering cold  
The wind bit at him as he stared  
Why  
Why did this have to happen?  
He looked down at his shoes, tears already brimming in his eyes as he thought back to the event,  
Blood.  
So, so much blood  
And Pico's body growing cold in the frigid Philly air in his own arms  
He remembered himself standing in the shower later that night hyperventilating as the blood stained his skin,  
The stains remained now, his hands tinted red,  
His thoughts shifted back to the cold that made itself known to him as a violent shiver rolled through him, damn the cold of Philadelphia.  
Its where they were now  
Philly,  
Pico always said it was where he truly grew up, truly lived but really he had grown up somewhere in California he thought, he wasn't sure now.  
Philly certainly wasn't Pico's hometown by a good couple of states but its where his real home was  
Home...  
People say home is where the heart is  
Keith paused on the thought  
‘Home…’  
His home was gone if that was true  
It was gone and destroyed  
Pieces of his only home strewn on the tracks of an old familiar train that he and the very person he spoke so fondly of found one another at  
He heard a single bell and everything broke  
He felt a hot tear burn at his skin  
Then another  
And another  
He was sobbing as the cold bitterly attacked him  
He couldn't take it  
He wanted his home back  
His life  
His love  
His fucking everything.  
Keith leaned against the pillar in front of the church building and slid down it, his ass hitting the pavement painfully as he covered his eyes with his palms  
Pain  
That's all he felt right now  
It's all he had felt when he watched the life drain from the eyes of his only love  
As he watched their brilliant green drop into a pained nothingness  
He had watched  
He held him as he died  
Keith started to shake again, pulling his knees up to his chest and sobbing into them, he missed his love  
He missed pico.  
Keith hiccuped as he thought back to the happy moments he had with the man  
Smiles,  
Tears,  
Ecstasy,  
Everything  
He watched Pico's happy face in his mind, watching memories of him silently play through his head  
He felt seemingly sucked into it the world around him falling away as he found himself in a bright room  
It looked like Pico's  
Keith looked around  
Everything was fuzzy as he saw something  
Someone  
He walked toward them  
The green a hellish eyesore to the fuzzy yellow-white tones of the room  
He chases the familiar colour to the edge of the room  
It wasn't really a room he found.  
No, instead the wall dipped outwards and faded smoothly into a seamless edge, the edge leading to an endless expanse below him  
He looked at the person next to him on the ledge who stared out into the infinite beyond of blinding light  
It was pico  
“I see you've found me again”  
His raspy voice seemed quiet for once  
“I guess I have”  
Keith sat down, somehow, relieved  
He knew he wasn't supposed to be here  
“You're right, you're not. But I brought you here anyways heh”  
Keith smiled and looked over to the man in question who sat so still  
it was scary  
Keith gazed down at the man's hands witch fidgeted in his lap and had a moment of both sheer joy and dread at the same time  
“yeah, I knew why you wanted to meet by the trainyard heh”  
Pico responded to his thoughts again  
“You did?”  
Pico helped up his hand, showing off the brilliant silver band, 2 jewels embedded into the metal with a lacey pattern holding them in  
“Yeah. I knew for a while… I even found a ring for you so I could pull a bit of a prank on you when you proposed”  
Keith felt his mouth run dry, his eyes grow wet  
“I'm sorry we never got to experience it in real life”  
Keith looked down at his own hands awkwardly and jolted  
“Pretty right?”  
Keith stared wide-eyed at the ring placed gingerly on his own ring finger  
“I knew when I saw it you would love it… sad you never got to really see it hah”  
Keith looked at the band, it was a silver ring with a band of blue in the middle with sections made with darker blue  
“I love it”  
Keith tried to smile as he felt the world started to fade from him, it was hard to be happy when he was in a dream  
“They've seen you”  
Pico spoke sadly, Keith panicked for a second before all his thoughts focused on one thing  
“Will I see you again?”  
Pico turned to him and Keith realized he wasn't fuzzy like the rest of the plane was  
“Yeah, I promise.”  
Pico held his pinky out to the boy who felt a tear roll down his face  
“I promise I'll be back then.”  
Keith took Pico's pinky with his own and pulled Pico into their last kiss for a long time  
“I love you, Keith. Don't forget that”  
Keith smiled and nodded catching the pale yellow creeping away, a grim black slowly surrounding them  
“I love you too”  
Pico smiled   
Then Keith fell away, hands ripped apart by an invisible force  
Probably the same force that made him open his eyes to the real world  
He shot up, a bit out of breath as the same cold wrapped around him, only the faded yellow tint of the world around him the reminder of what he had saw  
He slowly stood up and put a hand to the pillar he was sitting against earlier  
A small clack alerted him to something on his hand  
He looked over and nearly burst into tears as he stared mouth agape at the small thing  
The same brilliant blue ring sat at the base of his left ring finger from before and seemed to suck up the light around it, the metal feeling almost weightless as he marveled at it  
He smiled as new tears dripped down his face  
“Heh, I still got to see it in the end sweetheart”  
He felt a warmth on him, it seemed to wrap around him as he held the ring close to him  
It felt like comfort  
A hug  
He couldn't see him but pico was certainly there  
Keith smiled warmly as the heat left him, this wasn’t going to be their final goodbye  
He cried and brought his hand to his face pressing a short kiss to the ring before turning to head inside, desperate to get away from the chill  
He found a seat by Diane and the rest of her family, he found little comfort with being with them but it helped  
Pain still knitted its way into his every movement, the longing for his love back thick as he watched them talk about his love, his life  
His beloved  
His Pico  
The service ran on longer and longer as his eyes went numb to it all   
He felt a new agony stab at him as they lowered the casket however, the pain seemed to freeze in his chest as he watched unwaveringly as dirt was loaded on top of it, he didn't hear the calls for his name until Diane stood next to him holding onto his arm and tugging him gently  
“Hey, Keith? The service is over, it's time to go”  
He didn't move  
He couldn't  
He didn't want to leave the man although he was dead  
It felt wrong to leave  
In his head, he knew pico would be mad at him but he shook his head  
“You guys go home, I'll call a uber or something, I'll probably be home tonight”  
He tried to smile for her but it wasn't conveyancing as she sighed  
“Fine, don't freeze, don't think daddy would be pleased with that hah”  
She laughed awkwardly as Keith only nodded his gaze still locked on the gravesite before him  
“I'm sorry for your loss Keith…we all are”  
She turned around, letting Keith's arm fall to his side as disappointment welled inside her  
She walked away quickly, not wanting to be by the grave anymore, it was clear that the grieving man wanted to be alone now  
That didn't stop a new soul from joining him in watching the grave however  
“Were you guys close?”  
Another woman, this time however it wasn’t Diane  
Keith broke his trained stare for only a moment to see who it was  
He sighed and shoved his hands inside the tight dress pants pockets  
He was never one for suits but having to wear the same suit he bought specifically for a wedding pained him, he shook his head and acknowledged the woman  
“I think you know the answer to that cass.”  
She showed her hands into her pockets, she wasn't as formal, a suit overcoat on a red long sleeve sweater, faintly he could hear jewelry click together as she flexed her hands in the pockets  
“Yeah, I do.”  
They both stood in awkward silence for a few moments before cass sighed and sat down in the dew-wet grass, fist holding her head up as she stared at the overturned dirt  
“You wanna know what he told me the day he passed?”  
Keith's breath got caught in his throat, he talked to her?   
“What did he say?”  
He managed out his own legs finally giving out as he sat down next to her, dirt already staining his pants as he messed with the loose dirt that his hand lay by  
“He said that when he dies that he's going to make sure to haunt your ass, heh, and I see he kept that promise…”  
Keith looked at her weirdly for a moment, he didn't get it  
“I can tell he's already spoken to you, right? Probably about his surprise”  
Keith was surprised  
“Well… yeah. How did you..?”  
Cassandra laughed for a moment, the sound almost bitter as she stared dead-eyed at the dirt ahead of her  
“The possession did some things to me, some good some bad, but it's obvious”  
Keith nodded, he had forgotten about the incident, the school never went out in the guns blazing glory luckily, but years of bullying takes its effect on a person, so does stupid spells but still sometimes beating someone inches from death helps with that  
Well, that and a dear friends words,   
Cas chuckled as she wiped away a tear as she looked up  
“You know I used to be like you.”  
“Hmm?”  
Keith hummed as Cassandra smiled weakly  
“I used to love him when we were young, it faded with time but I always knew something I don't think he himself knew”  
Keith hummed again unsure of where the story was going  
“I always knew he was going to end up with you, ‘till death do him and the blue one part!’ I used to say”  
Cassandra waved her hands as Keith looked at her, he had been right about the jewelry, she wore the same gloves worth of interconnected finger guards and rings that all connected to a single red bracelet that hid under her sleeve  
But then it hit him  
“Wait… what??” you... You knew??? You knew we would be together??”  
Cassandra nodded  
“I used to brag about knowing the future, unsurprisingly I was wrong about almost all of it but I always knew I was right about that one. I knew that he was going to find his soul mate whose whole colour scheme would be blue and red.”  
She looked to Keith, even in the formal attire his pale blue hair stood out, so did his bright red shoes, she laughed weakly, it sounded forced  
“He never believed me until he met you ya know, then he told me the day after you guys met that he finally found the person I kept telling him about”  
Keith was a bit shocked as he looked back to the grave  
“He talked about you a lot, every day he would tell stories of just how great you were and that he knew that you were the fabled blue and red kid he was destined to love, he said that he knew it when he saw your eyes, ‘they shine with a love deeper than he could see into’ he said, I didn't believe him until I saw how he looked at you”  
Keith smiled to himself  
“He was always one for cheesy one-liners huh?”  
Cassandra laughed, it wasn't so forced now. No, instead now it was a sad yet comfortable one  
“You got that right. Can't imagine what all you heard with him...you got any stories you wanna share?”  
Keith leaned back on his palms as he looked up to the still bright sky  
“A few,”  
The girl leaned back as well  
“Tell em, I'd love to hear more about that lovestruck fool”  
Keith closed his eyes as the cold seemed to leave him  
“He most certainly was a lovestruck fool…”

Keith sat there and told his stories about the man and Cass telling hers  
They were similar really, storys about how the supposed popular jerk of the school was really just a dumb kid with a heart too big  
Well, a heart too big for a certain someone...  
Cass would listen to stories of how the two met, tell her own versions from Pico's ecstatic retellings to her hours after it happened  
They both shared a few hours of one another's company before the streaks of the day started to fade into a brilliant night, signaling that it was time for them to go  
Keith stood up stretching as he looked down again  
“He was happy you know.”  
Keith looked at cass who was also standing now  
“I know.”  
Keith smiled bitterly as he held back a wave of fresh tears  
“He's happy now.”  
Keith didn't respond this time just looking up as deep velvet purples bled into the feverish sky their beauty dampening the light until it was hard to see  
“he has another surprise left for you, just so you know”  
Cass looked at him for only a second before turning away towards the road  
“Check his work table, the one back home, the codes 48365 in the left 3rd drawer”  
Keith turned to look at her, to ask her what she meant but she was already gone, there wasn't even a sign of the woman even being there in the first place  
Keith mumbled a bye to himself as he walked away from the grave, following the marked out path he had followed to get here  
It felt right now.  
Well, it never feels right but it felt ok now  
There wasn't the aching tug to go back, to stay forever anymore, at least it wasn’t as strong as it was before  
He sighed as he walked back to the road  
It was time to go home,  
It may not be where his heart rested anymore but, it was close enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im pretty happy with this, still awkward at parts but its nice love you all <3


	4. a new tale to tell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:DO NOT READ IF ANY OF THE BELOW ARE TRIGGERING TO YOU!!!  
> grief  
> loss  
> knife mention  
> gun mention  
> cursing  
> school shooting reference  
> MAY THIS BE YOUR ONLY WARNING WHEN READING THIS!!

After the uber came and left he arrived at a familiar house, not his own but Pico's  
He unlocked the door hesitantly half expecting to see the man lounging on the couch watching tv or fucking around in the kitchen when he opened the door  
A wave of disappointment hit him as he stepped into the empty house  
Loneliness emanated from every corner of the building  
The usually quiet house seemed painfully silent as he walked to the couch dropping his heavy jacket on it before kicking his shoes off  
‘Was cass right?’  
He thought  
In reality, he knew he couldn't return to Diane and her family yet, where he and pico actually lived for the most part  
But this would make due  
Keith walked into their shared yet unused room, eyes landing on the dirty project covered desk that sat against the wall,  
In the middle of the materials sat a space cleared out, stuff piling around a single key, it was small but still seemed out of place  
Keith walked to the desk, his socks making his fingers get shocked by the key as he stood on the old carpet  
He picked it up and looked to the 3rd drawer on the left side like cass had every so vaguely said  
Should he do it?  
He thought for a second as her words looped again  
‘A surprise’  
Yeah he was going to do it  
Keith propped himself on a knee as he looked at the keyhole, pushing the key in and twisting it, the soft click on the draw unlocking one of the few noises in the house  
He opened the drawer to reveal 3 things  
A note, a knife, and a small box  
Keith grabbed the items and walked to the bed, trying to sit down but yelping as he sat on something  
He got up quickly putting the things on the foot of the bed before throwing the sheet back  
He yelped as he revealed something he thought was long gone  
“Oh wow, didn't expect to see you again”  
Keith leaned forward and picked up the large silver mag 10 pico used to bring with him practically everywhere  
Well, that was a lie  
He did bring it everywhere,  
He brought it everywhere until the day he had accidentally shot through Keith’s hand…  
He didn't want to think about that right now  
Keith got a soft feeling of dread as he held it in his hand, the same hand that still had a large scar in the center of his palm, surprisingly the grip seemed to actually fit him now, the metal sitting comfortably in his hands  
He remembered a time where pico had taken him to a range and actually taught him to shot properly  
That was a scary day  
Yet he still found himself start to smile as he thought back to the time, pain seemed to edge the action but it was still a happy memory he had of the man despite just how scared he was of accidentally hurting himself or someone else,  
It was a good day  
Keith set the gun carefully on the table next to the bed sitting down in its place as he dragged the items closer to him with a short sad sigh  
He unfolded the note and was starting to read it when the door creaked open,  
He shot his head up again, fear pricked at his head, but the disappointment hit him harder as pico wasn't standing in the doorway instead yelping when a cat jumped into his lap out of seemingly nowhere  
“Oh, Hanna... it's you”  
He pet the cat as he leaned back reading the note finally, he didn't even know the cat was still alive but they were a nice comfort as they purred in his lap  
He read the smudged and messy handwriting  
It almost looked rushed  
“Dear Keith, my dearly beloved.  
When you read this note it's only because I'm dead or some horrible shit happened to me and Cass told you about it because she knew it was time for you to know, she would know when it was time. Or when I died.``  
Keith saw small drops of water wilt the page as he read on, they were his own tears he came to realize  
He hadn't realized he started crying as he read on  
“This was written on 1/27/2007, Recognize the date? Yep! That's the day we met, exactly 4 years ago from this notes writing we met all the way back in 2003. What day is it now? When you read this? Did I finally give you the knife that was with this nightmare? Or was I too much of a pussy. Bet it's the latter but you have it now I suppose. Better post mortem then never”  
Keith flipped the paper over and continued reading the sad narration, his face wet as he read on his rambles  
“Well if you got it or not doesn't matter, if you're reading this then Cassandra's already talked to you, told you the code... I hope... if not I'm sure you can break the lock with your twig arms haha. I love you so much it's unreal and the contents of that box will show you a place to go, a special place, I was going to take you there one day but I know I never will, it's not like I could go back there anyways, bad things reside in that building… but I always knew you wanted to go there, no matter how much you denied it when I talked about it, so if you need something to do after my death then you can go there, it's in the box. Everything you will need I mean :) I love you, always remember that, and tell Cass that she may be a weird magical freak but she's pretty ok, you may need her help too, the code words geronimo, she’ll know I hope”  
Keith could almost see the smirk he had when he wrote that line, teeth bared as he held back laughter at his own stupid genius  
He folded the note back up and dropped in on the table next to the gun, picking up the next item,  
The knife  
He looked at it, the handle was unfinished but even in its state there was still an intricate amount of detail carved into the wood, this had been hand carved  
He flipped it over in his hand, the back holding the edges of the design and a date carved into it,  
1/27/03  
He smiled and flipped it open, the blade snapping open as he stared at it  
“Oh wow”  
Keith revealed at it for a moment, the metal tinted with a blueish colour as the blade curved in and dipped, the simple notches in the blade adding more beauty to the creation easily  
Keith smiled and he closed it shoving it into his pocket, something told him he would need it on the adventure he was sure to take once he opened that box  
Wait  
The box  
“Fuck”  
He grabbed the box and looked at the metal lock, a digit code.  
He turned the box over, hoping for a hint on the code he couldn't remember,  
He frowned, how could he forget something so important so quickly??  
just he was about to try and break it like pico had said he probably could in the note he realized something  
Written in black ink on the back of his hand it said ‘48365 -<3 cass, knew you would forget dumbass’  
He smiled weakly as the momentary panic faded to the background,  
Hanna got up and hopped to the floor and walked away as he sighed,  
He did forget, he forgot the moment she had told him if he was honest  
He clicked each digit into the lock and watched as it clicked open, the lid slightly parted as he held it  
He took a deep breath and opened the wooden lid  
He let it out as he looked at the boxes contents  
A slip of paper, another key, and a pair of old red goggles, they were cracked and dusty but obviously importaint, He picked up the slip first  
On it, the slip said 2 things  
On one side it said “schoolhouse” and on the other an address  
Keith went wide-eyed  
This really was his school,  
The one Pico didn't want to go back to  
Cass never brought to the rifle luckily but the building harbored bad things, he never knew what bad things but it was always there,  
Something always lurking  
Keith held the slip in his hand and smiled, using his other hand to wipe his face off  
Yeah, he would take this adventure.  
wherever it took him he would do it.  
He would do it for Pico


	5. the magic in reminiscing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: DO NOT READ IF ANY OF THE BELOW ARE TRIGGERING TO YOU!!!  
> death mention  
> suicide mention  
> demons  
> curseing  
> MAY THIS BE YOUR ONLY WARNING WHEN READING THIS!!

2 weeks

Now, to some, this doesn't seem like very long but to Keith? it was forever

Well he's biased he guessed as he stared up at the ceiling for the millionth time that morning, hunger and sadness making his whole body hurt as he sighed

It was a little over 2 weeks after Pico's death, and consequent funeral, not like Keith really cared though, as time seemed to fade away from him the seconds ticking into a frivolous loop that looped into an endless void that sucked up everything around it

Keith huffed out a breath, he could taste the air

It tasted of rot

He looked to his side at the table, the same items he had placed there weeks earlier remained but now so did a half-eaten sandwich he had made the day after

Black old caressed the top, part of the meat in it looked almost liquid as he cast his glare on it

He turned towards the wall, the smell of mold quelled by the smell of the old pillow he buried his face into instead,

The pillow still smelled of him

Well, vaguely now but it was still a memory inducing thing,

He thought to the times where he didn't have to cuddle with a pillow to just get some resemblance of comfort 

He remembered a brighter day,

Valentines day

That's what he remembered really,

He remembered years ago to the day,

He had gone out on work that morning, pico had been somehow been decently neutral about the ordeal, despite the sudden happening, 

Keith remembered giving him a short kiss and an apology 

“Sorry, I won't be home for the day…”

He'd been so sad that morning as who he'd learn was actually Darnell messaged him again

“I promise I'll make it up to you tonight”

A reassuring smile, pico had only laughed

“You won't need to loverboy”

They had both shared a somewhat disappointed laugh as Keith left, mic in hand as he fiddled with the bandages that wrapped his arms

Pico on the other hand got to work on his surprise,

One of 2 Keith would come to find out, as he arrived at the trainyard he was oh so accustomed to seeing as he smiled at the 2 figures that stood talking to one another

He walked over to them, one man and one woman, 

The shorter of the two waved him over with a short call

“Hey! Your Pico's boyfriend right? Common over here!”

He had jogged over to see the lady, when he got closer he realized that the woman was wearing a dark pink tank top with a pink undershirt and a pair of short light pink jean short, the man was wearing well-worn blue jeans and a purple shirt with yellow sleeves he gave a gentle smile before turning to a table they had set up with practically nothing but fun dip packs and a laptop

“Heya! Your Keith, right? That boy Picos always talking about?”

Keith nodded and put a hand out for her

“And you are..?”

The girl took his hand and shook it violently

“Nene”

Keith smiled and nodded

“And you?”

He turned to the other person, who was still staring down at the laptop

"Oh uh, Darnell"

He turned to him and smiled shaking his hand quickly

"Well, you ready to get started? Everything you're going to need to know is here! Cass should be here in a few minutes, she's going to be your helper per-say, you're going to be opposed by Nene and I'll just be like….computer...tech...yeah!"

Darnell turned the computer to him, showing him a messy list of lyrics and let him read over it 

"Sounds like a plan chief"

Even though the memory was fuzzy he remembered those moments so clearly, though the other half of that night he remembered even more-so

After the hour or so long session he had with Nene, Darnell, and Cass he finally got to go home

Excitement brimming in him as he stepped onto the porch and opened the door

What he did not expect was a note to be sitting on the floor

He bent down and picked it up

'Follow me!'

A single blue petal was taped to the paper,

He laughed at it and looked around,

The walls were decorated with little heart chains and packs of fun dip were tossed onto the couch haphazardly

The lights were off and the only light source was from the fake candles strewn about the room, giving it a deep orange-red tone

"Pretty"

He followed the path of blue petals like the note had told him with a smile, he followed it to the bedroom and looked up to see 2 things

Pico and a finely set up table, lit up with real candles this time

"Oh my"

Keith grinned as he hugged pico,

"Happy valentines sweetheart, hope those boneheads didn't give you too much trouble with the session thing"

Keith pulled away and gave the man a kiss

"No it was all fun heh, did you do this all while I was gone?"

Pico nodded and gestured for him to sit, to which he gladly did

"Yeah I did, do you like it?"

"I do, it's beautiful"

Keith marveled at the man, a loving gaze cast on his flushed face

"Well it not as beautiful as you"

Keith's face went red 

"Well nothing can beat how beautiful you are"

The memory faded there, the playful argument fading into the background as he opened his eyes again

He nuzzled into the pillow as hot tears started dripping down his face

God, he was a mess

He missed pico so, so much

Keith closed his eyes again and was about to go to sleep when the door opened making him jump

Keith jerked his head up to look at the door and made eye contact with none other than Cassandra

"Hey Keith"

Keith sighed and dropped his head back to the pillow

"I don't want to go to the store with you."

Cass looked annoyed

"Look hun, you don't have a choice this time and were not even going to the store today"

Keith looked up at this 

"...what?"

His voice was hoarse from misuse and sobbing, he sounded horrible

"You heard me. Get up, i'm not going to watch you mope yourself to death here"

Keith didn't even have a chance to argue before she was next to him on the bed crying him from the grasp of the fluffy red blanket he had and his oh so dear pillow

Cassandra however, did not care as he protested getting up, instead, dragging him out of the room by the arm

Now Keith was annoyed

he was shoved into the bathroom with the demand of a shower, his whining met with quick shutdowns and Cassandra shoving clothes at him without care for how little he wanted to do this 

"Look dude, you're going to take a shower and I'm taking you to a certain somewhere you were meant to go a long time from now. Come out to the front room when you're done, your leaving this house whether you like it or not"

Cass practically hissed at him through the door as she walked away, her boots clacking loudly as she stomped presumably to the front room, the sounds of her boots muted as she made her way on the stained and used carpet

Keith leaned against the door and sighed

Well he was already in here, guess he really didn't have a choice in the matter

He dropped the armful of clothing onto the toilet seat a pang of sadness ringing through his head as he noticed the green sweater that was mixed into the cloths

It wasn't the one that he had passed in but it was still his

Keith picked it up, the threads threatening to snap as he gently tugged at the sleeves

He thought back

He does that a lot now that pico was dead he found

He remembered the endless static speak of many elderly women online as pico sat on the couch trying to sew the sleeves onto his old green shirt

It was almost always warm back in California so when he had moved to Philadelphia

Well, let's say it wasn't a smooth transition

“Oh my GOD!! HOW THE HELL DO YOU MAKE THE NEEDLE GO INTO ITSELF!? THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT!!”

Pico had screeched, throwing the fabric down in a frustrated huff video still playing at the person sewing in the tutorial moved with an inhumanly fast precision

“Have you tried just, buying a new shirt??”

Pico had glared at him, staring at him like he was insane

“Do I look like I know where to get green sweaters!?”

Keith laughed at him that day, 

It was a fun night, he still remembers how to do a blanket stitch after all those years

The sweater he held in his hands though, was not so lucky to see the stitch put to work,

Keith rubbed his thumb softly over the stitches, the fabric bunched and had small holes where the fabric didn't even connect as messy black thread held them together 

Barely held them together that is

He sighed and opened the door, he stepped out of the bathroom long enough to drop the old worn thing onto the bed he had been drawing away in his sorrows in and grabbed a different shirt

It was one of his own cloth amalgamations, a red sweater with a white t-shirt over it, sounds normal until you see the red hood sewn to the t-shirt and pocket stitched to the front of it with an old faded red circle with a line going through it in red paint 

He smiled and tossed it over his shoulder and heading to the bathroom

Quickly he did as cass had oh so aggressively told him to do, stripping down and turning the water on, yelping when the icy stream hit his arm as he stepped in, 

He shivered as he waited for the heat to come to him, a pleased sighed escaping him as the hot water stole away any idea of the cold water moments later

He pressed his forehead to the wall as the water ran down his back, it felt nice to feel the days of grim flow away from him

He leaned down and grabbed a bottle off the floor of the tub, bringing it to his face to read what it was

‘2 in one, apple-scented… yeah that'll work’

He popped the top open and got to work washing the dirt and grease from his dull blue hair, 

Around half an hour later of sulking in the shower he finally stepped out, drying off with the towel cass had provided him

Yay.

He dropped the towel to the side as he got dressed, a pair of boxers, a pair of Pico's old beige pants, and his own sweater amalgam, he didn't have a shirt but who cares

He stuffed his hands into his pockets as his hair dripped water down the back of his neck

He took a glance at himself in the mirror

He looked...dead

The bags under his eyes were a deep almost purple as he leaned forward, 

His normally bright blue and green eyes seemed just as dull as his hair, 

He sucked in a breath and left the bathroom

He didn't want to see what he did to himself anymore

He trudged into the front room and stared at Cassandra, she was staring at her phone with a small grimace

“What are you forcing me to do now…”

His throat hurt, and when he took a few steps into the kitchen he started to realize everything hurt

He headed for the medicine cabinet while cass spoke

“Glad to see you're still alive. We have 2 places to go, one you want to go to and the other you're going to hate me for”

Keith opened the old cabinet and grabbed a bottle of Tylenol, he didn't care that it was probably too old to work all he knew is that it would probably help the ache that nested inside of his bones as he moved

“And where would that be”

He groaned inwardly, popping the lid open and dropping two pills into his palm,

“We need to see the dearest family,”

He groaned out loud this time,

“I've taken my time to avoid the dearests as of late you know.”

Cass laughed dryly

“Yeah, I know. Think I don't get the brunt of her concerned texts while you were off wasting away in your bedroom”

Keith felt a knot of guilt settle in his stomach as he sighed

“Sorry… I know how she can get it, but if Luis tries to start anything i'm leaving.”

Cass hummed as she looked back down to her phone, 

“That's understandable, “

She huffed and stood up, she was wearing something new, he realized, a long black overcoat over a red turtleneck sweater, her normal strange amounts of jewelry, and her boots, he realized the reason the clacked so hard was due to the metal hooks that latched to the bottom of them that connected to the tops of them,

Interesting.

He grabbed a glass out of the dish drain and filled it up with tap water before downing it alongside the pills

Cassandra walked into the storage room of the house, Keith following a little ways behind 

He turned into the room to see a small bed set up

Wow, Cass had been living here and he never realized it

He turned back and sat down on the couch, regret was welling in him

Why?

He couldn't answer the question as something was dropped into his lap

“The goggles??”

Cassandra was suddenly in front of him

“Yes. you're going to need em when were done with Diane's folks, should probably grab the rest of the stuff the pico left for you as well”

Just the mention of his name left a pained, sour taste in his mouth

Cass sighed and walked to the door,

“Put some shoes on and hop on whenever you're done, don't take too long to get to Diane's place”

Keith nodded as she left, Keith quickly shoved his feet into his shoes witch still sat unmoved by the front door he ran off to the bedroom grabbing the rest of the items and shoving them into his pocket

He walked outside, somewhat out of breath and hungry as he took notice of Cassandra sitting on a motorcycle in his driveway

“Cass… you drive a bike??? Since when??”

He looked to his own unused bike that sat next to hers,

Sad

She smiled at him

“All my life. Not hurry up she lives like an hour away and I don't know how far I can boost”

“Boost?”

She looked a bit dumbfounded

“Nothing, just hurry up”

He did as told and took a hesitant seat on the back of the bike, holding tightly onto the sides of her jacket to keep from flying off as they started the journey… the moment she got out of the driveway without losing Keith she sped off, the sights around Keith were blurred as they passed by so many things

He didn't even see the road signs before they started slowing down, it had only been a few minutes into the journey 

And…. they finished it???

“Huh??”

He let go of Cass's jacket and stepped off, legs shaky as he took a hesitant step

It was Diane's house

“How in the h-”

“Boost”

Cass had cut him off with a wink

Then they were both cut off

“Keith?”

Oh no...

Diane

Keith looked over to her just in time to see the teary-eyed woman run over to him, pulling him into a tight hug

“Where did you go?? I thought you killed yourself. I was so worried!”

Diane was crying as Keith hesitantly hugged her back

“Yeah no i'm still alive, sorry”

He was uncomfortable, to say the least,

Though the uncomfortable air didn't settle there, it in fact got a 1000 times worse when he was dragged inside by Diane and was met face to face with a very displeased Luis

“Oh, looks like the rabbit is still alive. what a shame.”

Luis glared down at him and Diane brought him inside, Luis and Keith's spat years ago never blew over,

Guess tricking him into thinking he was dating his daughter to just tell him to go fuck himself isn't too good for a first impression with the demon

“Luis stop, it doesn't matter right now. He still hurting, you know sugar-pea is too”

Porrim spoke, Keith looked around but couldn't see her anywhere, Luis just huffed and growled at him, Keith could see his horns faintly in his hair, tail fwipping furiously,

He really wished the stupid demon would just get over it

He stared into the pure black void that was his eyes, the red glare that made up his pupils made his head hurt

He looked away with a sigh, god how long was he going to be here for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHH SORRY ITS SO LATE!!  
> I spent way longer writing this than I expected to take, right after I made a time guess I was hit by a truckload of writer's block-  
> but here it is!! in all its depressing glory!! so yea  
> also yeah it's been 2 weeks post funeral and cass is done with his shit, and by that I mean he quite literally had only left the bedroom to go to the bathroom
> 
> nothing else.  
> that's why cass is so mean to him in this, shes just actin strong for him, I mean she's known pico since she was a kid to right?


	6. New lands to discover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW:DO NOT READ IF ANY OF THE BELOW ARE TRIGGERING TO YOU!!!  
> Death mention  
> Demons  
> Curseing  
> Death threats  
> Abusive comments(?)  
> MAY THIS BE YOUR ONLY WARNING WHEN READING THIS!!

4 hours.  
Cass and Keith stayed in the house for 4 hours  
Keith's head was pounding by the time he was allowed to leave, Luis growling as he left to the disappointment of his daughter  
“Next time don't come back. Hope you let a train hit you on the way out, rabbit.”  
Luis stood in the doorway arms crossed as he glared daggers at Keith, Diane whining furiously  
“Daddy!! Don't say that!”  
Diane glared at her dad who only huffed, his tail fwipping around as he stared, porrim walked up behind him  
“Jesus Luis quit it, leave him be”  
Porrim smacked the back of his head, making the furious man jump and turn his glare to her for only a moment as she sighed  
“Keith honey, be safe and i'm terribly sorry for your loss”  
Porrim smiled warmly at him as he nodded  
He was never really sure how to feel about that woman, she was Diane's mother, and Luis's ex-wife, she was always so much nicer than Luis, Keith could tell where Diane got her personality from  
He waved to them as cass sat down on the bike, turning it on and revving while she stared up at them  
“You ready to go?”  
Cass leaned forward against the handlebars as she waited  
“Yeah, take the stupid rabbit”  
Porrim growled lowly as she turned to him,  
“Why do you keep calling that boy rabbit?? He's obviously human”  
Luis growled as Diane started down the steps towards him  
“I call him rabbit because that's all he is. Meak prey, fast but still mortal.”  
Luis bared fangs at Keith, making the boy go a tad wide eyed  
“And that seems to be your cue to leave sadly,”  
It was Diane, she was next to Keith, a sad smile on her face  
“Please be safe and don't mind daddy, message me when you get back, ok?”  
Keith nodded and started towards the bike with a short wave  
“I will, ill...”  
He hesitated and with a smug glace to Luis spoke  
“I'll talk to you later”  
Luis squinted at him and turned inside with a short display of his claws  
God, he hated that man  
Diane turned back to the house as Keith sat down on the bike once more  
"Where to next magicman"  
Keith sighed as he gripped the sides of Cassandra's jacket again  
"Oh, to the schoolhouse."  
She sounded so casual about it  
"w-wait what??"  
Keith was confused  
"We're going there so soon??"  
Cassandra bit back a groan as she pinched the bridge of her nose, turning around enough to look at him  
"Are you deaf Keith? Yes. The schoolhouse. You were meant to go in like 50 years from now, but-"  
She cut herself off with a sharp breath  
She turned her head away, Keith still confused as she shook her head  
"Things….change. yeah."  
She looked down the various gages on the front of the bike before kicking the stand and turning around, she felt bitter  
She was… upset, she had no right to be upset at the deceased man, but still, she was, vague anger resting in the back of her head as she started the journey that wasn't supposed to happen yet  
He wasn't supposed to die yet.  
She closed her eyes for a second before revving the engine harder  
"Hope you got used to the boost"  
Keith looked a bit scared as they made their way to the road, the feeling of weightlessness rolling over him as everything started to blur  
It certainly wouldn't be a long trip but it was certainly going to be a weird one...

When the bike started to slow Keith woke up,  
Wait.  
Wake… up?  
He opened his eyes and realized he was leaning against Cassandra while she carefully threaded through the destroyed road, being sure to not hit the potholes and large cracks where the road lay used and forgotten  
He was still holding loosely to the fabric when he sat up properly.  
"Good to see you're awake, we're practically there"  
Keith looked around him, the crisp warm air making his skin tingle as he stared at the overgrown trees and mossy pavement, old houses and buildings destroyed and their contents lost to whoever found the old place and to time itself  
Then it hit him  
"Are….are we in California???"  
Keith piped up, he could've sworn pico had said his school was in his hometown, the town residing in California,  
A good 42 hours away from Philadelphia.  
There was no way he had slept for 42 hours….  
Right?  
"Yeah, though we've only been gone around… I'd say 2 or 3 hours? Boost helps a lot with travel I'd say hah"  
Cassandra's eyes were dead set on the road ahead of her, only looking up to see where she was while Keith marveled at the state of the land around him  
"What… what happened here?"  
He asked quietly, he could also taste the near tangible regret emanating off of Cassandra's entity  
"The town was tiny, and it's hard to get to, probably died out with time once my generation of kid left id say… don't know though me and p-"  
She paused, making a pained look before finishing her mini story  
"Before me and...Picos… little posse of friends all left this sad place… it was me, pico, nene, and Darnell, we all swore we'd leave together after the incident happened and, well, we did."  
Cass seemed...  
Distant.  
Keith didn't pry after that, just watching as signs passed him and the deserted street seemed to fill with more abandoned centers  
"Aaand were here!!"  
She stopped the bike and popped the stand out onto a piece of the crumbling rock, not caring that the asphalt seemed to crumble beneath her weight  
"I thought I'd take you on a… journey."  
She stood up quickly, promptly shoving Keith off in the process, she took a few brisk steps toward the old building in front of her, it didn't look like a school to Keith but he followed either way,  
Not the best idea to lose track of the only person who knew anything about the place you're currently probably trespassing on

Scratch that, definitely trespassing on.  
Keith stepped back as Cassandra kicked the door in of the building the rotting wood splintering off its hinges, the other door standing still,  
It was a mall  
Cassandra walked in quickly and followed the hallway till she saw it  
"A trash can?? That's it? Where is everything??"  
Cassandra laughed  
"Oh, these old buildings have practically nothing in them anymore. Barely had anything when I was still a kid, there should be 2 rooms down the hall above us and to the left, if you want to go on ahead, I have to see if Otis actually left something here, it was an old joke of ours heh"  
Keith nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets while Cassandra went elbow deep into the trash can, it seemed to be overflowing with crumpled balls of paper as he walked a bit up the steps in front of him  
"Wait, who's Otis??"  
Cassandra laughed again, her pale red eyes seemed bright  
"He's a good friend of mine, he's related to pico, his cousin actually, imagine pico but with black hair and a blue colour scheme instead of a green one"  
She didn't stutter on Pico's name this time, Keith time she said it,  
Keith picked that up immediately,  
'Guess she's comfortable here'  
The casual use of his name made something bubble in Keith's chest, he wasn't sure what it was as it faded away quickly  
He nodded and smiled, the imagery funny in his head as he walked off up the steps and down the hall  
He felt like he was intruding as he heard paper balls fall to the floor behind him  
He noticed a door, or where a hole had been cut out for one  
He turned into the room, it was practically empty aside from the decaying walls and a single oversized counter.  
There was a glass display shelf in the counter that had been shattered and looted from what he could tell, there were a few candy bars in the boxes that lined the shelf  
"A candy shop… cool…"  
He stepped away and walked down further, and cass was right, there was another room that he could see from the entrance of the now dubbed 'candy room'  
He could vaguely see a multicolored light pour from the doorway,  
Puzzling  
He walked towards it, the building had no power, only the thick sunlight to guide him through the building as he turned towards the bright room  
And god did he regret it  
When he looked in he was practically blinded by the rooms lights, neon rainbow LEDs lined the already rainbow-painted walls, there was no visible separation between the floor and the ceiling, the whole room just looked like a bright eye-bleeding void with equally and bright clothing on racks in the room, the only sign that it wasn't just a bright hole in the wall and actually a room  
Keith took a hesitant step forward and felt nausea bubble in his stomach  
God who would even want a room like this  
He heard Cassandra make a happy "ahah!!" Somewhere downstairs as he felt the room spin from under him  
He didn't know how long he stayed in the bright room as he couldn't find a point to focus on  
Cassandra's boots clacked noisily up the stairs as he blinked, he wasn't sure what exactly she had gotten out of the trash but it didn't matter as he felt a hand on his shoulder and yelped as he was turned around quickly,  
It couldn't be Cassandra, the noisy metal clicks still rapidly ascending towards him  
He was pulled out of the room by the mystery person who stood in front of him,  
"hello? sir?"  
A man  
"Huh??"  
Keith was confused and shook his head, glad to be out of the hypnotizing room  
He heard Cassandra stop, a short gasp, and then  
THUD!!  
"HOLY SHIT ALUCARD!?"  
Cassandra had tackled the man down with a hug the apparent 'Alucard' wheezing hard as cass hugged the life out of him  
"Oh my god, where did you go! We all missed you and Hanzo so much!!"  
Cass was grinning as she pulled away, half straddling him on the floor with her hands on his shoulders  
"ah! i just uhh… never left, Hanzo however… is uhm… well"  
He dropped his already quiet voice to something just over a whisper  
"hanzo is with pico now, has been for 3 or so years now"  
Cassandra's face dropped immediately, Keith looked sad at the tall man at the insinuation oh the matter  
"Oh. Oh my god. I- am so sorry"  
Alucard smiled  
"no, no don't don't!"  
He waved his hands in the air  
"old news, it's ok now, hanzo still talks to us ahah"  
Alucard adjusted his tinted glasses, deep black fluffy hair perched on blueish skin  
Keith stood there awkwardly taking in every detail of the new stranger's outfit  
It was, well, with no better way to put it, goth  
He wore a black turtleneck with a thick knit, a pair of nice dress pants with a chain hanging out of his pocket, a few other metal bits hanging off of the chain, he also had a black cloak hanging off his shoulders, knocked off by Cassandra's tackle revealing a pair of thin wings that were pressed tightly to his back  
"Whoa"  
Keith was a bit surprised as he looked at Alucard's face again  
Pointed ears, large canine teeth, sunglasses, and blueish skin, it all made sense  
A nonhuman, a vampire  
"ah! right! you are… Keith?"  
Alucard looked to him,  
"Uhh yeah…"  
Keith was uncomfortable, and still vaguely reeling from the eye-bleeding colors he had subjected himself to minutes before,  
"Wait how did you know that?? Have we met before??"  
The man laughed, Cassandra got up and pulled him up to his feet quickly  
"No, he's like me!"  
Cassandra looked smug pointing a thumb to herself  
"He's magic!!"  
Alucard laughed  
"haha… not exactly magic, but i have telekinesis and just a bit of telepathy"  
He smiled warmly and held out his hand,  
"this is, however, the first time i believe we've met, i'm alucard as you probably have guessed"  
Keith looked at the man's hands before shaking them, his hands were a paler blue with dark blue symbols on his wrists, thin claws tipping every finger  
A prick of fear laced itself into Keith's thoughts as he took his hand,  
"Nice to meet you"  
Cassandra smiled and took one of Alucard's hands and one of Keiths and dragged them back towards the door  
"Yo cardy! We're going to the school! come with us! come with us! I'm sure it would help to have another student with us"  
Keith smiled weakly, he was a bit confused about who exactly he was but still agreed  
"Three heads are better than two?"  
Alucard laughed, a small smile on his face as he nodded,  
"I guess, it'd be nice to see that old place again"  
Cassandra had dragged them down the stairs and out to the door  
"Are you going to be ok outside card? It's still decently bright out"  
He nodded  
"you guys go ahead, i can just phase there, i'll see you soon!"  
Keith nodded as he and Cassandra ran down the road towards another decaying building  
Keith smiled  
It wasn't forced  
It was happy.  
He was happy to be here,  
It may not have been how he wanted to have been here but who cares right now,  
He grinned and ran on his own,  
This was good  
This would be another memory he could look back on in the future, but he doesn't think about that right now  
All he thinks about is how the pain of his loss isn't as strong right now  
It's still there, as it will most likely always be, but, it didn't hurt as bad right now  
He felt good, happy  
He knew that pico would be happy to see him right now,  
He smiled wider,  
He knew pico was happy to see him right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh so yeah alucards here and guess what alucards a vampire beacuse i dunno headcannon go brr-  
> Iv very happy with how this is turning out, and yeah its relatively happy rn lmao  
> Dont worry more pain soon baby-  
> Also yeah most of the goth kids can see/hear ghosts,  
> Cass cant see them but she can hear and sense them  
> Alucard can see and hear them but cant tell when they are there without audio or visual comformation  
> Hanzo is dead and haunts alucard and cyclops? We dont talk about cyclops lmfao-  
> And yes the mall was a huge picos cousin joke i used to introduce mr.card uwu


	7. The school house

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW!!!!  
> DO NOT READ IF ANY OF THESE ARE TRIGGERING TO YOU  
> vomit  
> Curseing  
> Death mention  
> Insinuated possession   
> MAY THIS BE YOUR ONLY WARNING WHEN READING THIS

Keith was panting hard as Cassandra skidded to a stop, he had regretted deciding to run after her at this moment, he nearly collapsed as he stopped beside her.  
“Were here!!”  
Cassandra looked...  
Proud.  
An unsettling feeling as Keith crouched, hacking violently as he caught his breath  
“Goodie.”  
He responded dryly, his throat burning as he stared up at her, she looked strange now that his head was spinning with the eerie burn that seemed to take over him  
Her overcoat was waving gently in the wind, she stood staring at a decrepit building that stood strong ahead of them her outline was almost fuzzy,   
“You ready to go in?”  
Keith froze, still trying to catch his breath  
He didn't want to go in.  
It felt...wrong  
Like he wasn't meant to be here and that by being here he was making a mistake  
He didn't have a choice though did he?  
I mean Cassandra has already driven him 42 hours from his home, that's not exactly the easiest to walk.  
“I… I guess… just give me a second”  
He coughed violently as he looked down. He could hear cassandra sigh as she crouched down next to you  
“Here, it'll help, this place was always a little dusty ey?”  
She held out an unlabeled waterbottle, he took it with a nod not bothering to ask where it came from chocking up to the stupid magic she was talking about earlier with that card guy  
He watched as she walked back to the road, staring at the street sign   
He turned back towards the building and opened the bottle and drank it, the burn in his throat soothed by the cold water as he took a deep breath.  
Now that he thought about it, he had known Cassandra because of pico, as with the rest of his old school friends but…  
He had never heard of any of the people they had talked about in the mall  
Hanzou? Cyclops? Hell even Alucard himself was a mystery, all he knew is that he's got mind powers and could probably rip your throat out without hesitation  
Keith huffed and stood up with a growl  
He didn't want to be here with some random man that Cassandra knew, hell he didn't even want to be here right now.  
He closed his eyes as he shuddered  
Water hung tightly in the back of his throat  
He felt like he was about to vomit  
"You ok?"  
It was cassandra  
"nO-"  
He tried to reassure her but was cut off as he threw up all of the water he had taken in, collapsing as bile burned his tongue.  
Cassandra crouched down and put a hand on his back as he spluttered   
"Guessing you drank too fast…"  
She looked down at the puddle under him  
"Wait… have you eaten today?"  
Keith panted for a moment before wiping his face off with his sleeve  
"...no…"  
Cassandra looked worried but shook it off, standing up and starting towards the building,  
"Hold on, I need to go tell Alucard, you're eating before we go in."  
Keith stood up fast, going wide eyed  
"N-no pleAse-"  
He jerked forward and grabbed her arm tightly  
"If we leave I don't think I can come back-"  
Keith looked downright terrified as Cassandra stared back, tears were threatening his   
"I…"  
She sighed, a sad look on her face  
"I… get it…"  
There was a long awkward pause as Keith stared at her, begging silently to stay  
"uhm, cassandra, keith, i'm sure i could find something in the cafeteria, it wouldn't be much but it's something"  
Keith's head shot up towards the building Alucard stood in the hole that used to be the door  
"That works!"  
Keith let go of cassandra and scrambled up hurrying towards the door  
Cassandra stood dumbfounded, a hand hovering in the air  
Keith walked over to Alucard, hands stuffed in his pockets, his movements hesitant and shaky, still reeling from throwing up  
Cassandra stood there as keith stared into the building, standing just in front of the doorframe  
"Common cass hurry up"  
Keith turned to look at her  
Something was different in his gaze, it reminded her of someone  
She smiled, nodding.  
"Yeah, just a second"  
Keith gave a forced smile as he turned towards the wreckage   
She could swear there was something different about the boy right now  
He was so hesitant to come here not even 10 minutes ago, yet, now?  
He was the one telling her to hurry up.  
She sighed and walked towards them   
She could've sworn that as she got closer she could see a silhouette of 2 figures  
Of course, she shook it off as just  
Hope.  
Wishful thinking.  
I mean, what else could you call seeing dead people?  
She hurried toward the door after him, dark feeling bubbled in her chest as the silhouettes seemed to hover in her peripheral vision  
She knew they would want to come, but it still made her uncomfortable to see them so close... so soon after…  
She shook it off as the 3 walked into the old building  
She could tell the silhouettes followed them in, the feeling of their presence holding heavy on her  
She tapped Alucard for a moment while keith marveled ahead of them  
"Hey. Cardy."  
She pulled him back as keith walked ahead  
"Card. Are they following us?"  
Cass felt the hair rise on the back of her neck  
Alucard turned around, staring beside her.  
"yes. hanzo and pico are following us. have been for a while"  
Cass nodded as she let him go, catching back up towards the blue-haired boy.  
"Guess they're going on an adventure of their own heh."  
Cass muttered as Alucard chuckled  
"guess they will"  
He smiled at her as he walked faster up to Keith  
"Well… hope y'all have fun"  
She paused for a moment staring at a door before jogging up to the others  
Yeah…  
Hope they have fun...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so i kinda just stoPED WRITEING-  
> yeah so uhhh i have no real exscuse for just compleately forgeting that this thing existed, its mostly just bcus school started back up and i have been haveing trouble with finding time to write n shit (its curently around 3am when im writeing the end of the chapter and this note thing)  
> But hey im gonna try and write more soon, spring breaks comeing so that practically 2 weeks of no school!!! Witch is great for yall and hell for my poor poor wrists lmao-  
> Gonna give myself arthritis by accident at this point lol  
> Anyhoo hope yall like this and exspect much more kinda soon and sorry this one was so short(gonna make up for it with a nice juicey long chapter next ;o])

**Author's Note:**

> yeah, this is going to be a bit wonky but I hope that's ok, love you all!! enjoy my shitty vent turned fanfic story please enjoy and be safe<3


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